Unit 1Digital Literacy and Business Communication

File Management

What is File Management?

Placing files and documents in the appropriate folders or locations

Organizing and arranging files and folders in a logical manner

Using appropriate practices when naming files and folders

Benefits of File Management

Allows us to access or find files quicklyMaximizes storage or increases our

storage efficiencyIncreases our work productivity or

efficiencyGreatly decreases our stress levelAdds to a more professional work

environment

Where do I start?

We can organize files in a number of ways, such as:By subject or course

◦Ex. All math, science or business files togetherBy date

◦Ex. All 2011, 2012, 2013 files togetherBy program/software used

◦Ex. All Word, Excel, Powerpoint files togetherBy unit or topic

◦Ex. Unit 1, Unit 2 files together

Can you think of others?

Tips to Remember

When naming and organizing, remember a few important points:Large to small

◦ Start with main folders, gradually moving to single filesBe consistent

◦ Do not change the format throughoutEnsure it makes sense to everyone

◦ Someone who did not create the folder or files may have to access them

Keep it simple◦ Should not have to endlessly scroll to get to a file◦ Folder and file name should be concise and easy to read

ActvityLet’s See You Try

Go the handout folder and open the File Management Exercises document

Internal Parts of a Computer

Motherboard

A collection of devices (together on one large circuit board) that control the flow of data and operating electricity for all the primary components in a device

CPU

The "brain" of all devices. The Central Processing Unit is like a manager or boss. It tells what the other components of the system should be doing at a given moment.

Often referred to as the processor

Fan

Keeps the internal components of the device cool

Power Supply

Adjusts the power from the outlet to the amount and type of power required by the computer to operate. A battery is an alternate power supply for portable devices.

Hard Drive

Often called the C drive on a computer . Long-term storage system within the device.

RAM

Short-term memory system on the device. Saves the programs and data that is currently running on the device.

Erases when the device is turned offStands for Random Access Memory

Expansion Slot

Place on the motherboard where additional components can be added

Used to enhance the performance of the device

Expansion Card (Adaptor)

Used to enhance the capabilities of the deviceEg. Additional memory cards or RAM to make the

device run faster

Ports

Areas on the device where other pieces of hardware can be connected

Eg. USB keys, printers, camera, ethernet

Databus

A collection of wires between the processor and all internal devices, and is used to send and receive both data and instructions.

Address Bus

An address bus is a computer bus (a series of lines connecting two or more devices) that is used to specify a physical address within the device

Let’s get more information

http://www.ebuyer.com/blog/2015/01/whats-inside-a-hard-drive/

Hardware and Software

Hardware

The components of a device that you can feel and touch◦Ex. Mouse, monitor, processor

Software

The programs loaded onto the hardware◦System Software

Instructions telling the hardware what to do…brings the parts together to make them functional

◦Application Software Added to the device as tools that perform specific

tasks

Speed and Memory of Computing Devices

Speed

The speed at which a device operates is measured in hertz

The speed of a device is reflective of the speed of the processor and the amount of RAM a device has

The more hertz a processor has, the faster it can “give orders” to the other components of the device and the more it can handle

Most processors will operate at speeds measured in◦Megahertz (MHz): 1 million hertz◦Gigahertz (Ghz): 1 billion hertz

Memory

The amount of memory a storage device has is measured in bytes

Memory is used in the hard drive, RAM and portable storage devices (USB keys, CD)

The more memory in the RAM, the faster a computer can operate…why?

Most memory devices will have large amounts of memory:◦Gigabyte(GB): 1 billion bytes◦Terabyte (TB): 1 trillion bytes

ActivityIn groups:

Divide into groups of 3 Each member is to choose one of

the following devices to research◦ Computer/laptop◦ Cell phone◦ Ipad/tablet

You are to research the following about your device and then explain what it means to the group:◦ Common type and speed of

processor◦ Common type of software that is

loaded◦ Amount of RAM it comes with◦ Amount of Memory it comes with

How is this used in Business?

Various Devices

Can you come up with various hardware or computing devices that are important in the business world?

What makes them important?

What do you think are the most important pieces of software/tools used today in the business world?

ActvityLet’s look at some

examples of advertisements

Electronic Device Comparison Assignment

Electronic Research

Picking the right search terms

When conducting searches online, how do you know where to start?

Why won’t Google give you hits that are actually useful?

Search terms: ◦Words or sets of words you type into a search

engineQueries:

◦The full set of words typed into a search engine for a search

Let’s Demonstrate

Percy Jackson Series of Novels Quiz:1. Who is the author of the series?2. What is unique about Percy?3. What food does Tyson like best?

Let’s see what we get…

How Does Google Work?

We saw that when we typed in a question the words did not stay together, the important words may have been left out, etc.

How does Google organize their results?http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNHR6IQJGZs

How to Create Effective Search Terms

Circle keywordsUnderline maybe wordsAdd missing wordsIgnore unnecessary words

Keywords

What food does Tyson like best?

Maybe Words

What food does Tyson like best? favourite

Missing Words

What food does Tyson like best? Percy Jackson favourite

Unnecessary Words

What food does Tyson like best? Percy Jackson favourite

Our New Query

Tyson favourite food percy jackson

Let’s try…what did we get?

Searching is a process, and sometimes it might take a few tries to discover the right query. That is not a problem. Just practice and ask yourself…what happened?

ActivityYour turn…

Divide into 3 groups and create a query using the following questions…My 3 year old cow has

blisters on its tongue. What’s wrong with it?

Can I make a living tossing pizza for money?

I heard there is an abandoned city in the San Francisco Bay. What is it called?

What Matters in a Query

Every word matters◦ Try searching for “who”, “the who” and “a who”

Order matters◦ Try searching for “blue sky” and “sky blue”

Capitalization does not matter◦ Try searching for “barack obama” and “Barack Obama”

Punctuation does not matter◦ Try searching for “red, delicious% apple&” and “red

delicious apple”There are some exceptions

◦ $, C++◦ Can you think of any?

Understanding Search ResultsThe Search Page

Once you enter an appropriate query, the search engine will provide you with a number of results

The search page has key components:◦Search bar – Where it shows your query◦Ads – At the top and right hand side of the page. Paid for

by companies to be there.◦Natural Results – Not paid for and cannot be bought. The

results Google has found for you◦Filters – Allows users to look specifically at results in one

kind of media, or to narrow the search◦Knowledge panel – when you search for an entity, Google

may show an informational box on the right.

Let’s Try

Let’s look at 2 separate queries and evaluate what we find:◦“Brazil”…notice the knowledge panel◦“Ugg”...lets look at the difference between

Chrome and Explorer results

Search Results

Each search result also has a number of key parts:

◦Title – the first line of a search result◦Web address – the location of the page on the Web…

clue as to who is offering you the source◦Snippet – gives you an idea of how your search terms

appear in the text◦Bolded words – your search terms. Google may

automatically find synonyms for your search term◦Ellipses – “…” – shows places in the source where the

search terms appear without having to show the text

ActivityYour Turn…

We are doing a research paper on monarch butterflies…

Think of some queries and lets evaluate your results

Evaluating Credible Sources

What kinds of sources should you use when completing an assignment?

Provide examples.

Evaluating Credible Sources

Example A:In this article, I will explain how people can get taller. There are many short people who have been told by their doctors that they have completed their growth spurt years and that they no longer will continue to achieve additional height. These doctors certainly have misinformed their patients, and as a result have discouraged them. Instead, they should tell them that if patients were to hang upside down for 10 minutes every 4 hours, they will stretch their spinal columns. If these short people follow this routine for one full month, they can increase their height two full inches and stand shoulder to shoulder with peers their age. The medical research about spinal stretching spans many decades and have been attributed to the success of many basketball players who sought to increase their height beginning in their middle school years.

Evaluating Credible Sources

Example B:All football players are angry, vicious people who use the football field to express their anxiety. It has been reported that this sport draws males who are inherently distressed individuals who seek this activity as a means to blow off steam. The following was reported in the magazine Sports and Mental Health, “Everyone who plays this sport, even from a young age, has issues relating to anger management. This has been a pervasive problem that management of national teams must address head on.” Unless football coaches and officials take this issue seriously and recruit players who are more emotionally stable, our society might incur problems. For example, some players visit bars and begin fights with patrons. Others engage in violent activities like dog fighting and breeding pit bulls.

Evaluating Credible Sources

What are your thoughts by these real online articles?Are they credible?Do you believe them?

Identifying Credible Sources

Does the writing seem too good to be true?◦Sometimes content seems so amazing that it makes a

reader wonder if it’s true or not.◦Beware of this as it can be an indicator of unreliability

or inaccuracy.Who wrote this information?

◦Being able to identify the author can help to determine the credibility and truthfulness of your source

When was the article written?◦The age of the information can impact the reliability

and accuracy.

Identifying Credible Sources

Can the information be verified?◦Can we check the accuracy of who the author is, who their

sources are, does anyone else share the same informationHow might the tone or style of the writing reflect its

credibility?◦The actual design of the website is not as important as the

actual writing. Spelling and grammatical errors are good clues.

Why does the author write this information?◦Sometimes people write articles for reasons that

contribute to unreliability, bias and untruths. Take this into consideration when reading.

ActivityChoose one of the following subjects to research. Create a query and choose one site to evaluate. :European leaders of

the 1900’sSteroid use in baseballThe evolution of

Microsoft

Referencing Electronic Searches

Styles of Referencing

The two most commonly used styles of referencing are:APA (American Psychological Association)

◦Most commonly used to cite sources in the social sciences

MLA (Modern Language Association)◦Most commonly used to write papers and cite

sources in the liberal arts and humanities

Citing Electronic SourcesAPA Style

Newspaper Article

Format:◦Author, A. A. (Year, Month Day). Title of article. Title of

Newspaper. Retrieved from http://www.someaddress.com/full url

Example:◦Parker-Pope, T. (2012, May 6). Psychiatry handbook

linked to drug industry. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com

Citing Electronic SourcesAPA Style

Electronic Books

Electronic books may include books found on personal websites, databases, or even in audio form. Use the following format if the book you are using is only provided in a digital format or is difficult to find in print.

Examples: ◦ De Huff, E. W. (n.d.). Taytay’s tales: Traditional Pueblo Indian

tales. Retrieved from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/dehuff/taytay/taytay.html

◦ Davis, J. (n.d.). Familiar birdsongs of the Northwest. Available from http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9780931686108-0

Citing Electronic SourcesAPA Style

Web Page, or Report List as much of the following information as possible (you sometimes have to hunt around to

find the information; don't be lazy. If there is a page like http://www.somesite.com/somepage.htm, and somepage.htm doesn't have the information you're looking for, move up the URL to http://www.somesite.com/):

Format:◦ Author, A. A., & Author, B. B. (Date of publication). Title of document. Retrieved from

http://Web address

Example:◦ Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderland, L., & Brizee, A.

(2013, May 5). General format. Retrieved from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

NOTE: When an Internet document is more than one Web page, provide a URL that links to the home page or entry page for the document. Also, if there isn't a date available for the document use (n.d.) for no date.

Citing Electronic SourcesAPA Style

Blog (Weblog) and Video Blog Post

Include the title of the message and the URL. Please note that titles for items in online communities (e.g. blogs, newsgroups, forums) are not italicized. If the author’s name is not available, provide the screen name.

Examples:◦ J Dean. (2010, May 7). When the self emerges: Is that me in the

mirror? [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.spring.org.uk/the1sttransport

◦ Psychology Video Blog #3 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqM90eQi5-M

Citing Electronic SourcesAPA Style

Wikis

Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects that cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries.

Example:◦OLPC Peru/Arahuay. (n.d.). Retrieved April 29, 2013 from the

OLPC Wiki: http://wiki.laptop. org/go/OLPC_Peru/Arahuay

Business Reports

What is a Business Report?

A business report is a form of writing that provides information in an organized manner for a specific audience.

It is based on researched facts or on accurate details of a situation or event, not just on the writer’s own knowledge.

The purpose of a business report is to convey essential information that is accurate, clear and concise.

The business report is prepared to help in decision-making, outline changes needed, give solutions to problems, etc.

The business report defines a problem or issue, presents data to analyze the problem or issue, draws conclusions, and makes recommendations.

Parts of a Business Report

Executive Summary – three to five sentence summary of the facts. Always goes first and may be the only section of the report that is read by management

Problem Statement – outlines the problem in three to five sentences

Analysis – explain the research that was used to help generate a decision

Decision Criteria and Alternatives – all potential solutions that could be used to solve the problem. Could be written in chart format

Conclusion – proposed solutions based on data, objective statement of what the report has shown

What is a Business Case?

A business case is when a business scenario is presented for you to practice what you would do if in that situation

You analyze the situation and then present your findings

It is important to look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the company (SWOT)

Sample Case

Lets look at an example to see what you would do.

Ergonomics

What is Ergonomics?

The goal of ergonomics is to make the work environment more comfortable to improve both a workers’ health and productivity

Areas of Concern

Physical◦Achieving a good fit between the worker and his/her

workstation.◦Eg. Proper seating and workstation

Environmental◦Eg. Issues such as harsh lighting and glare on your

screen◦Eg. Temperature of a room

Emotional◦Eg. Proper organization and preparation can reduce

stress caused by deadlines

ActivityLook around the lab…what is and is not ergonomically correct about this workplace?

Ergonomics CaseThe DSBN contacted Ms. Provost to say that there have been too many injuries reported by staff at A.N. Myer. As a result, staff absenteeism has become an issue. She has asked you to provide 5 suggestions to reduce staff absences due to injuries.